A Hamtramck woman has been charged with 11 Medicaid fraud felonies, a state official said Wednesday.
Julianna Trzin, 40, has been charged with improperly billing Medicaid and pocketing payments intended for patients, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said.
“Medicaid is designed to be there for families when they need it the most,” Schuette said in a statement. “Those who steal from Medicaid are stealing from Michigan’s most needy families.”
He said his office has charged Trzin with six counts of Medicaid fraud, three counts of false pretenses, a count of embezzlement from a vulnerable adult and a count of continuing criminal enterprise.
Schuette said the Medicaid fraud and false pretenses charges are felonies punishable by up to four years in prison. The embezzlement charge is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 93 days and the criminal enterprise charge carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.
She has also been charged with a drug possession charge because she allegedly had less than 25 grams of cocaine on her when she was arrested, the attorney general said. The crime is a four-year felony.
Trzin is free on bond and is scheduled to appear next in 54B District Court in East Lansing by Oct. 16 to for an arraignment on the 12 charges, officials said.
Her case stems from an investigation conducted by the Clawson Police Department, according to Schuette.
Trzin’s employer, Cambridge North Healthcare Center, filed a complaint that cash payments to the facility on behalf of its residents were not being entered into an accounts receivable ledger, officials said.
Detectives found that Trzin, who was responsible for accepting payments from patients, kept the money, according to the attorney general.
They also accuse Trzin of improperly billing Medicaid for more than $600,000 from 2011-2016 to cover the losses and prevent earlier detection of the scheme.
cramirez@detroitnews.com